News, commentary, and insights on adventures, and adventurers, from around the globe.

Monday, August 01, 2016

Karakoram 2016: New Summit Bid Launched on Broad Peak

The summer climbing season in Pakistan is quickly coming to an end. After an avalanche wiped out C3 on K2, all of the teams departed that mountain for home, and following a couple of successful summit bids last week on Nanga Parbat, that mountain is all but deserted too. Now, a team of climbers have launched a new attempt on Broad Peak as well, and if all goes as planned they could top out today.

According to Spanish website Desnivel.com, a three-man team consisting of Oscar Cadiach, Manolo Gonzalez, and a local climber named Sahib are in the midst of a final summit push at this very moment. The trio left Base Camp and reached Camp 2 on Saturday, moved up to Camp 3 on Sunday, and are now in position to complete their ascent today.

The weather in the region is reportedly good, and should remain so for another day or two, but as always in the Karakoram, the conditions on the mountain can be fickle and change quickly. Still, the climbers seem poised to complete their expedition, and potential cap what has been a long and difficult season in the mountains.

If Cadiach is able to complete this climb successfully it would be his final 8000-meter peak. Having climbed all of the other 13 mountains of that height, only BP remained on his hit list. Even more impressive, he's managed to climb each of them without the use of bottled oxygen, putting him in very rare company indeed.

We'll keep an eye on the team's progress and report any updates as they come in. Hopefully they'll get up and down the mountain safely, whether they reach the summit or not.

Meanwhile, over on the Gasherbrums there are still a few teams still in place as well. I haven't heard any updates on their progress in recent days, so it is unclear of their current status.